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Train-truck crash closes Dean Forest for hours

Steve Bisson

Cargo was scattered over a large area in the aftermath of a wreck Friday involving a CSX freight train and two tractor-trailers on Dean Forest Road near Ga. 21 in Garden City. (Steve Bisson/Savannah Morning News)

Steve Bisson

A railroad signal tower was knocked out of place as a result of Friday's crash involving two tractor-trailers and a CSX freight train on Dean Forest Road near Ga. 21 in Garden City. One of the truck drivers was hospitalized. (Steve Bisson/Savannah Morning News)

Steve Bisson

Firefighters checked the contents of spilled cargo containers involved in the crash Friday of a CSX freight train and two rigs whose trailers were over the tracks as the train arrived at the crossing on Dean Forest Road near Ga. 21. (Steve Bisson/Savannah Morning News)

Steve Bisson

The cab of one of the two tractor-trailers sits idle after a CSX freight train crashed into the truck's load Friday as the rig sat in heavy traffic at the railroad crossing on Dean Forest Road near Ga. 21. (Steve Bisson/Savannah Morning News)

Savannah Morning News

Savannah Morning News

For the fourth time in just over a month, rescue crews converged at a railroad crossing Friday to remove mangled wreckage and restore order.

About 9 a.m., a 40-car CSX freight train crashed into two tractor-trailers stopped on the tracks on Dean Forest Road at Ga. 21.

One truck driver was hospitalized, and the crash closed Dean Forest for seven hours, according to the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department.

Emergency personnel labored long past the 4 p.m. road reopening to remove debris and cargo that spewed from freight containers in the trucks' cargo. Among the spilled contents: grapefruit juice, chicken grease and 30,000 pounds of powdered PVC plastic.

Savannah-Chatham police investigators determined the two trucks, advancing side-by-side slowly in heavy traffic, had pulled into the railroad crossing and stopped. Once their trailers cleared the crossing arms, however, the trucks could not advance because of the traffic backup. Their loads extended over the tracks by an estimated six feet, said Sgt. Mike Wilson, police spokesman.

"They were stuck in a position where they had nowhere to go," he said. "Their actions precipitated the whole situation."

The crossing arms had lowered behind the trucks as the freight train approached. CSX has equipment that will alert a train of a break in the line, but the railroad does not have equipment that will alert a train engineer of an obstruction on the track, said Gary Sease, spokesman for the railroad company.

The average freight train moving at 50 mph needs more than one mile to stop, he said.

The first indication the engineer would have noticed would have been what he could have seen as he approached the crossing.

Peterson was taken to Memorial Health University Medical Center. His medical condition was not available late Friday.

Each of the four recent accidents has resulted in injury or death. The others:

On Oct. 3, Sharon Robertson, 25, was killed after she failed to stop at a stop sign just before a second set of railroad tracks on Wheathill Road, Garden City police reported.

About eight hours later on the same day, a truck driver was injured when his vehicle was hit at Dean Forest and Ga. 21 by an Amtrak train. Garden City police think that driver went around the crossing arms.

On Sept. 17, a woman was injured after an Amtrak train hit her vehicle at a crossing at Chevis Road in Georgetown. Initial reports indicate the driver went around the flashing lights and the lowered crossing arm, Amtrak officials said.

CSX has long partnered in a public safety campaign known as Operation Lifesaver to promote awareness at railroad crossings, Sease said.

In light of these accidents, the company will be examining whether to step up its safety efforts locally, he said.

Crystal Paulk-Buchanan, a spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Transportation, said that given the circumstances surrounding the recent accidents, people must avoid distractions and give oncoming trains the respect they deserve.

At some crossings, however, the state and CSX are being asked to do more.

After Robinson's death, Chatham County and Garden City officials said poor signage at the Wheathill crossing was a problem, and they vowed to step up their efforts to get the state and CSX to make crossing improvements.

Sease could not provide data Friday night on how much money CSX loses after an accident.

"It's costly in terms of dollars," he said. "But the far larger concern is it's costly in terms of human lives and human misery."

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP BUTLER, Okinawa, Japan — Marine Corps Captain James E. Frederick, who ejected from a Marine F/A-18 on Dec. 7, was pronounced dead after his body was found during search and rescue operations.